Who let the dogºs out????? Good thing Noone did!

So Iºm in this internet cafe, frantically trying to take care of any internet use within my 59 minutes of time. We do get free access at the courts, but among 128 girls and their coaches, I find myself getting too annoyed with the 16 and 17 year girls who check their facebook maybe 5 times a day. They know Iºm right behind them, breathing down their necks, and they just take their time with reading messages, writing on others walls and looking at pictures! Anyways, I wanted to fill you in with a little incident last week back in Loule...

I was feeling rather independent, confident and wanted some time to myself so I decided to take off from Casa Belmont where our hosts lived, and go for a run with the beautiful scenary around me. I laced up my shoes, put the headphones in, did a little stretch that was too short for any purpose and took off. The day before, Anna and I had gone on a run together, going along the dirt road from their house and turning left onto a paved road down a very steep hill. Well, this day I decided to let my free spirit soar and turn right onto the paved road. Oh boy! Go Sarah Go! I saw a rather big red field that served as my landmark where I would need to turn back on their dirt road, so I knew Iºd be fine. Earlier I had told Elizabeth not to worry about me because I like to run and be out for a while after she had volunteered theyºd come out and search for me if I wasnºt back in an hour. I reassured her Iºd be back in plenty of time to get changed and go to dinner. (They were treating us that night to this delicious stew thing that is served in a huge witches pot, tamburlin...consisted of broth, rice, prawn, monk fish and monk fish liver...Anna and I did try the liver but it still haunts me) So off I go on my little adventure. There was a pretty consistent incline so I stopped for a moment to enjoy the scene. I stood on a stone ledge, they call them walls, weºd probably call them fences, and overlooked a green grassy terrain with stone fences built sturdily and randomly all around. Old homes, some of which now are decaying and deserted, stood in the bright sunlight glow that the sun posseses about an hour or so before sunset. In the distance I saw an old church with a small cross on top. I told myself Iºd try to go in it on my way down if it didnºt look too risky. I stood there for a moment allowing all my senses to heed the beauty and ran on, my iPod and me. My run seemed to lose some of itºs charm when I started to pass more homes. Many people here have dogs but donºt take good care of them. They may be a little underfed and donºt seem to be trained at all...Well, they may be trained to protect the home, but thatºs it! Throughout my trip here when Jim-Elizabeth would drive us up to their home, dogs would jump on the fences and bascially try to scare us even though we didnºt pay them any attention and cars pass several times a day. Anna and I had passed several home with the crazy canines the day before. But something seemed a little more real and frantic to me when I was all alone and knew that no matter how many, "Best Sweet Love Songs" I could jam on my my iPod, the fact that I was completely alone and no one, literally no one would hear to help me except for the next car driving up if something did in fact happen. So here I was, Josh Groban pounding into my ears, this coyote-wolf-dog thing screaming, I mean screaming and maliciously licking his chops for me on my right as he tried to jump his fence and running alongside the fence with me, and some other scary mongrole joining into the fun taunting of the left side, once again running along his fence with me. Their sharp and shiny teeth and fangs looked worse than mine did before I had braces, but they were proud of theirs! I didnºt want to stop and I tried not to acknowledge them. Once I got past this scene that reminded me of when Belle gets attacked by the coyotes and the Beast saves her, (but there was no Beast for me) I realized Iºd have to go back down and face them again...Great! Well, I kept trudging up this darn hill and came to the end where another beastly untamed creature came charging for me at ramming speed only to get jerked back by the collar and leash that was attached to his house. Ouch! That mustºve hurt. I took a detour on a dirt path to get away from him, looked back, and saw this old little 5 foot lady shuffling along the outside of the house. Somehow this elderly lady all bundled up from head to toe has a reign on him. I stayed on the detour and got back onto the road telling myself Iºd probably run into a snake if I didnºt get back. Later on when I went back down I picked up a stick that I was sure would ward any 100 pound hungry dog away from me. Right....at least it made me feel better. I passed them without passing out and kept my jog up... I was feeling good now, probably had on Jim Brickman or some sappy Country love song and of course was thinking about Kent. How fitting, country music, Kent, love songs! So a while later I hear music coming from downtown, "Oh, thatºs carnaval music." (a big citywide celebration of lent that Iºll talk about later) I kept going and realized that I didnºt know where I was. I had lost all my bearings. I looked around and saw downtown buildings, the same countryside that looks the same all over the Algarve to a foreigner and could hear music. I began to panic. The sun would be setting pretty soon, and what was I going to do? Where am I? Whose phone do I use? What number do I call, I donºt know Jim-Elizabethºs number and is their number even in the phonebook since they also live in Scotland? Where would I tell Jim that I was anyway? Didnºt I get back on the right road after my little detours? Elizabeth wonºt worrying about me b-c I told her Iºd be gone a while... I stopped three Portuguese woman walking leisurely along and said, "Iºm lost" with the most worried face I could give incase they didnºt speak English. Well, they didnºt speak English, and once I told them that they all three started talking to me at once in Portuguese! Ahhh! My brain racked the shelves of landmarks I could give them and I said, "Cape Apolo" which is this cafe on the street leads up (way up) to Casa Belmont. They said, "Ahhhh..." and pointed me further to the right which would take me more downtown. I said thanks, went down, realized there were way to many back roads, turned around and started booking it back from the direction I orginally came. I ran and ran and hit a slope that turned into a huge hill. Let me tell you, this hill is a workout. But after sprinting it as hard as I could for a minute or so, I realized that this was the hill I had run with Anna the day before...or was it? It had to be, surely there werenºt two this steep so close together. Then when these certain two dogs started on their barking rampage and tried to jump up from their side of the thick white plaster walls, I remembered that Anna and I had passed that exact house earlier! I never thought Iºd be so happy to see the bobbing heads over the walls of these crazy and wild dogs! Victory! So all I had done "wrong" was run was to far down that road as I got carried in my own little world of love songs. Finally I reached the big read field, where I took a right and headed back. I was still running when this shorter dog came right behind my heels and was barking his head off at me! I could just see him taking a chunk out of my heel, but I kept going b-c I thought if I stopped heºd get defensive and attack. I got past the few houses that he chased me down and saw it. Yay! Casa Belmont. Home at last. I made it home in time to change and go to dinner where we had a wonderful time. Needless to say, I wonºt be going out alone (well, actually I am now but Iºm fine, really) and donºt trust me with directions! Ever!
Gotta run now! (but not on country roads...)